FOR CENTURIES, states have chosen to defend themselves, often as a last resort, by arming their slaves. At times, the practice has challenged the ideological underpinnings of society; in some cases, it has contributed to the downfall of prosperous regimes, as in the Haitian Revolution. This conference will shed light on the practice of arming slaves for national and imperial defense by examining the custom across boundaries of time and geography. We will also consider examples of the failure to arm slaves even at the peril of military defeat, such as in Revolutionary South Carolina and the Confederate States during the Civil War.

Topics include:

The Arming of Slaves in Classic and Islamic Societies
Thomas Wiedemann, Nottingham University: "The Slave As Non-Citizen: The Classical and Late Antique Worlds"
Daniel Pipes, Director, Middle East Forum: "Slave Soldiers and Islam" Commentator: Donald Kagan, Yale University

The Arming of Slaves in the Caribbean
David Geggus, University of Florida: "The Arming of Slaves in the Haitian Revolution"
Laurent Dubois, University of Michigan: "Citizen-Soldiers: Emancipation and Military Service in the Revolutionary French Caribbean"
Commentator: Jerome Handler, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities

Slavery and Defense in Colonial Borderlands
Jennifer Baszile, Yale University: "Armed Slaves and Colonial Crisis: Indian Wars in Colonial Southeastern North America"
Peter Voelz, Eastern Illinois University: "Armed Slaves Below the Border" Commentator: Jane Landers, Vanderbilt University

Military Uses of Slaves in New World Revolutions
Philip Morgan, College of William and Mary: "The Arming of Slaves in the American Revolution"
Robert Olwell, University of Texas: "Portrait of the Slave Master as Revolutionary: White Liberty, Black Slavery, and Military Service in South Carolina, 1775-1783"
Commentator: Andrew O’Shaughnessy, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

The American Civil War
Leslie Rowland, University of Maryland: "The Recruitment and Service of Slaves in the Union Army"
Frank Deserino, University of London: "The Notion of Black Loyalty Under Fire: An Analysis of Black Confederate Pensions"

Commentator: Catherine Clinton, Baruch College